Chakra Armament Mode

The founding of Konoha and the emergence of the First's title undoubtedly brought unimaginable changes to the Ninja World.

The Land of Lightning, located northeast of the Land of Fire, acted the fastest.

Near Cloud-Thunder Gorge in the Land of Lightning, a Lightning Release ninja named A received the full support of the Land of Lightning's daimyo. He gathered over half the ninja clans within the country and built a ninja village there called Hidden Cloud Village.

Afterward, the Land of Earth, the Land of Water, and the Land of Wind each demonstrated to the nations of the Ninja World what the efficiency of great powers looked like.

The names Hidden Rock Village, Hidden Mist Village, and Hidden Sand Village were established in succession, and the villages entered construction at an astonishing pace.

The ninja clans within those countries that had originally been fighting one another also instinctively drew together. Under the immense pressure of the Land of Fire and the Hidden Leaf Village, they were forced to cooperate and form alliances.

Though forced, as long as they successfully united, they would have the opportunity and time to continue adapting to one another until they truly became part of their respective ninja villages.

Faced with the actions of the great powers, the smaller countries were completely lost.

They lacked the vast foundations of the great powers, and there were no powerful ninjas within their borders capable of making the final call. No ninja clan respected another, and they began fighting among themselves first.

Some ninja clans saw the Land of Night's system and decided that ninjas could become daimyos too.

Becoming the head of a ninja village was nice, but becoming the ruler of an entire country offered far greater possibilities.

The thought naturally arose in their hearts: If he can become a general, then so can I.

Thus, the daimyo of a small country near the Land of Lightning was killed. A ninja clan head took power and declared himself general.

However, his rule was too brutal, his politics a complete mess, and his decrees changed from day to day. In the end, the entire country revolted, the self-proclaimed general was killed, and the whole nation became a land without a ruler.

Bandits, nobles, ninja clans, samurai, and all manner of unsavory people gathered there. The growing chaos completely destroyed the country's economy and political order.

In the end, even the Land of Lightning's daimyo could no longer stand by. Feeling that the people living in that small country had suffered too much, he tearfully annexed it.

Just as Yayoi had predicted, the great powers watched from the sidelines as they methodically sorted out the new order.

The smaller countries, meanwhile, became a carnival of demons and monsters, producing all kinds of absurd antics that no one could have imagined and bearing witness to the spectacle of humanoid stars shining brightly.

The Land of Night, which watched the show alongside the great powers, continued developing with remarkable stability amid the surging tides of the era.

Though some exiled ninjas and samurai forcibly crossed the Land of Night's borders, they were swiftly suppressed by the ninja and samurai troops Yayoi dispatched before they could create any chaos.

Kakuzu was the one who acted. During that operation, he also acquired the heart of a Water Release ninja and incorporated it into his forbidden Earth Grudge Fear technique as a trophy.

There had previously been another group of foreign exiled ninjas, but they had been relatively well-behaved and were genuinely fleeing disaster.

Under Kurobei's mediation, this group of over a hundred ninjas successfully joined the Land of Night.

Though there were no Kekkei Genkai ninjas among them, some were surviving members of secret technique clans, which gave Yayoi quite a few pleasant surprises.

The number of ninjas in the Land of Night's Military Bureau system had already exceeded one thousand.

With the education department soon to begin operating, a group of talented Land of Night children would become fresh blood for the nation and be incorporated into the national system.

Yayoi believed that within the next ten years, the number of official ninjas in the Land of Night could expand to at least four thousand.

Of course, the recruitment of samurai was proceeding at the same time.

Though the average strength of samurai was inferior to that of ninjas, they were still a considerable force and one of the foundations of the Land of Night's national defense. Yayoi valued them just as much.

For now, however, training ninjas took higher priority. In this era, ninjas were the mainstream. Samurai, monks, shrine maidens, and similar professions were inevitably declining.

Heavy snow blanketed the grand and magnificent metropolis of Nightview City. Numerous geothermal installations had been placed underground, releasing scalding steam throughout the city with a constant whooshing sound and bringing springlike warmth to the bitter winter day.

New figures appeared along the neatly planned roads.

They were armed personnel dressed in standardized white combat uniforms and carrying swords.

The image of a Red Spider Lily was uniformly embroidered onto their fitted combat uniforms.

Following designated routes, they patrolled every street and corner of Nightview City around the clock in shifts.

These people shared a single name—the members of the Security Corps.

The Security Corps was a newly established public security department in the Land of Night.

Its headquarters stood on the eastern avenue of the General's Residence. The newly built six-story structure came with a large plaza, while a vast tract of land had also been assigned to the department. Its closed logistics base and training base were built there.

Though its members were ninjas and samurai selected from the Military Bureau, they would no longer bear national defense duties except when necessary. Instead, they were responsible for domestic security, civil disputes, and similar matters.

Due to a shortage of personnel, Yayoi decided to conduct a one-year pilot program in the capital, Nightview City.

If the results proved satisfactory, it would later be expanded throughout the country once manpower became sufficient.

It was not only the newly established Security Forces. Yayoi was also reorganizing and restructuring some existing departments, making more detailed adjustments to improve efficiency.

Furthermore, to prevent conflicts of responsibility between departments, Yayoi intended to gradually draw clear boundaries wherever duties overlapped. Otherwise, given enough time, it would easily provoke clashes between two departments.

By the time he had properly arranged the recent string of affairs, it was already early March.

Starting a month ago, Yayoi had gradually set aside his busy official duties and begun training in the private training grounds of the Inner Court.

The Inner Court's training grounds were a massive site nearly five hundred meters in both length and width, located behind the main residence.

Many pieces of simulated training equipment had been placed there, and the grounds themselves were made from specially designed materials so people could better engage in actual combat.

Trees had even been planted, massive boulders positioned as obstacles, and ponds dug to store water, making the training environment more complex.

It could be said that this training ground occupied one-third of the Inner Court's total area, showing just how much thought Yayoi had put into it.

In the past, he would come here after handling official affairs to train himself and improve his strength.

Only during the especially busy latter half of the previous year had his monthly training time suddenly decreased.

At that moment, Yayoi stood on the sandy ground at the center of the training grounds and took a deep breath. A savage-beast-like aura surged outward from him in every direction.

Streams of visible blue airflow spiraled and erupted around him. They were the materialized Chakra produced by his outburst.

His black hair also floated unnaturally upward within the Chakra currents.

The materialized Chakra condensed into a thick, solid substance like flowing water and tightly clung to Yayoi's resilient body.

"Hmph!"

Yayoi let out a heavy grunt as an immense pressure suddenly descended upon him.

That pressure weighed down not only his body, but his bones and flesh as well, filling them with needle-pricking pain and strain.

After several seconds of adjustment, the violent and chaotic aura around him slowly settled.

The released materialized Chakra began condensing into a layer of Chakra Armor. Like flowing azure flames, it flickered around Yayoi's body like clouds and mist.

Yayoi did not hesitate. The instant he equipped that solid Chakra Armor, he leaped forward like a startled hare.

His body blurred in place, leaving behind a blue afterimage. A flash of blue tore through the air, and in the blink of an eye, he had crossed dozens of meters and thrown a straight punch.

Boom!

A hard boulder several meters tall instantly exploded, blasting countless fragments smaller than fists in every direction.

A shocking crater also appeared at the site of the explosion.

It was a scar left when the ground failed to withstand the force at the instant the massive boulder shattered and detonated.

Next, Yayoi moved to another boulder, wrapped both arms around it, and easily lifted the massive rock weighing more than ten tons.

The scene resembled a child waving around a greatsword as large as an adult.

Boom!

The air let out a dull roar as the boulder, larger than Yayoi himself, was launched straight into the sky.

Once it reached a certain height, its ascent slowed more and more, as though it had touched the peak of its rise. Then the boulder suddenly plunged downward, accelerating continuously as a thin layer of airflow formed around it and broke through the restraint of the atmosphere.

Standing directly beneath it, Yayoi looked up at the suddenly falling boulder. He did not dodge, merely calculating the time and distance in silence.

Abruptly, he bent his knees slightly. The ground cracked, spreading in spiderweb patterns. Using the earth as a springboard, he pushed off with his feet and launched himself into the air like a cannonball.

Boom!

Like the previous boulder, the falling mass exploded into countless tiny fragments, sending smoke and dust billowing through the air.

That was not Ninjutsu. Yayoi had merely used his physical body to shatter the falling boulder, which carried terrifying weight and force, and make it explode.

Yayoi descended steadily to the ground like a soft feather, producing no impact at all as he crushed the earth beneath his feet.

One minute later, not a single intact spot remained in the central area of the training ground, which spanned several hundred meters in both length and width.

It looked as though it had been ravaged by some enormous beast. The ground was full of pits and hollows, tall trees had been uprooted by explosive impacts, and not one of the massive rocks left in the field remained intact. Everything had been severely damaged.

Some parts of the ground had even tilted, with cracks extending dozens of meters away.

It was as though someone had used a powerful high-level Earth Release Ninjutsu to forcibly destroy the integrity of the ground, cutting it into uneven chunks of varying sizes.

However, this destruction had not been caused by Ninjutsu, but by Taijutsu.

And this was already the result of Yayoi restraining his strength.

Standing atop a patch of earth that remained relatively intact and jutted half a meter above the ground, blue flames like exhaling clouds and mist curled around Yayoi's body.

Though it looked as if flames were burning over him, it was not Fire Release, nor had any Chakra nature transformation been infused into it. It was merely a layer of highly concentrated materialized Chakra that had leaked out naturally and taken on the appearance of flames due to its extreme compression.

This Chakra Armor itself did not possess any burning power, nor did it have the temperature of actual flames.

"It's more or less stabilized now. My burst speed exceeds the speed of sound. After charging up, both speed and destructive power can be raised further. The Chakra consumption is manageable too. Only my muscles still sting somewhat. It seems I need to strengthen my body further..."

Yayoi quietly evaluated his current condition.

The technique sustaining his current state had been an idea ever since Yayoi first encountered knowledge about Chakra. Yet because completing it was too difficult, he had only barely turned it from a paper concept into reality now.

Every strike could produce the destructive power of a Ninjutsu attack, while its defense was equally impressive. At the very least, he could completely ignore ordinary destructive Ninjutsu. Against a technique like Fire Release: Great Fireball, he could directly disregard it and disperse it with a punch.

Kunai, Shuriken, and similar weapons could not break his defense either, no matter how many came at him, unless they were imbued with Chakra nature transformation.

"Kicho, can you infuse Chakra into a ninja tool and slash me once?"

Yayoi turned toward the edge of the training grounds, where his wife Kicho stood in an elegant purple-and-white kimono. He had no idea when she had arrived.

"My, does my dear husband have some special fetish for being abused? Since you say so, dear husband..."

The young woman teased him with a smile, but her hands did not slow.

She walked to a nearby weapon rack and picked up a ninja sword. Materialized Chakra as thin as a blade easily wrapped around it.

This ninja sword was of better quality than standard-issue ninja swords, with thirty percent Chakra Metal mixed into it. Ordinary ninja swords contained less than ten percent Chakra Metal.

Thus, after being infused with Chakra, its sharpness became unimaginably terrifying. Ordinary ninja tools would probably develop cracks after only a few clashes.

"I'm coming, dear husband."

As soon as the words left her mouth, Kicho moved at incredible speed, flying toward Yayoi like a dancing butterfly.

The Chakra-infused ninja sword's sharpness had been raised to the weapon's limit. She swung it fiercely at Yayoi's chest.

Unsurprisingly, even the Chakra-infused ninja sword failed to cut through Yayoi's Chakra Armor.

Kicho was even forced several steps back by the recoil transmitted through the blade.

"My, this kind of defense really is..."

Kicho's small mouth parted slightly, surprise showing in her pure white eyes.

However, whether in bed or on the battlefield, she was not someone who gave up easily, even if the person before her was her husband.

So, she tossed aside the ninja sword in her hand, and another blade fell from the sleeve of her kimono.

It was Spirit Blade: Kumokiri, its blue hilt matching her kimono perfectly.

Forged entirely from an exceptionally rare special Chakra Metal, it was undoubtedly a ninja tool on the level of a divine weapon.

Kicho gripped the hilt and drew the blade.

The blade's gleam was dazzling. The edge seemed capable of slicing apart the air just by touching it.

Then she took a deep breath. Veins bulged around her eyes, while a faint rainbow hue appeared deep within her white pupils, releasing an exceptionally pure white radiance.

Kicho's figure once again fluttered toward him like a butterfly. Combined with her purple-and-white kimono, it made Yayoi feel as though he had fallen under Genjutsu.

Slash.

Kumokiri was clearly far sharper than the standard ninja sword from before, easily cutting through Yayoi's Chakra Armor.

Blood spurted from Yayoi's chest. After cutting through the Chakra Armor, the blade had also sliced open the flesh of his chest.

Once the blade left, white steam rose from the wound on Yayoi's chest. In the blink of an eye, it closed together.

In this state, not only his explosive power but even his recovery ability had been enhanced.

"That's truly exaggerated, dear husband."

Kicho maintained her Byakugan. It was unclear whether she was marveling at the defense of Yayoi's Chakra Armor or his abnormal Seal-less Self-Healing ability.

Either one alone would qualify a ninja as powerful.

Kicho could not imagine the despair on an enemy's face after they finally broke through Yayoi's Chakra Armor, only to witness the bizarre constitution that allowed him Seal-less Self-Healing.

And let it not be forgotten that her husband was also one of the finest puppet masters of the current era.

Think puppets were his trump card? No, his real trump card was Taijutsu.

Think Taijutsu was his final trump card? No, beyond that was Chakra Armor capable of blowing apart even Ninjutsu with a punch.

Finally, after breaking the Chakra Armor, what they would see was a body beginning to heal without even using Medical Ninjutsu.

How cruel.

"You're the exaggerated one. You actually came at me with Kumokiri and your Byakugan activated."

Yayoi gave his petite wife a speechless look.

Every part of Kumokiri had been made with special Chakra Metal using lost artisan techniques. It was the crystallized lifework of ancient master craftsmen.

An ordinary standard ninja sword would be cut in half with a single clash against Kumokiri.

What was worse, Kicho had activated her Byakugan, directly seeing through the Chakra flow within his Chakra Armor and easily finding its weak points.

If he had not taken half a step back, the bleeding from his chest would have been far worse than this.

It would not have been a fatal wound, but it still hurt.

"Ah, this is Kicho's love for dear husband."

Kicho defended herself like that.

Yayoi decided that tonight, he would teach her a harsh lesson. Even if she cried and begged for mercy, he would make her roll her eyes back.

Well, her eyes were white even when she did not roll them back.

"Come to think of it, dear husband, this technique of yours resembles a Tailed Beast."

Kicho sheathed Kumokiri, but did not deactivate her Byakugan. She carefully observed Yayoi's Chakra Armor and noticed a few things.

"After all, it's a technique developed by imitating the Tailed Beast Cloak of a Jinchūriki. This mode pushes the Active Chakra within the body to its limit, then releases it outward to form a covering. It greatly enhances defense and destructive power, while Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, and Genjutsu are all boosted across the board."

Yayoi nodded.

The inspiration for this Chakra Armor did not come from the Fourth Raikage's Lightning Release Chakra Mode, but from Uzumaki Naruto erupting with Nine-Tails Chakra and forming a Tailed Beast Cloak.

On careful thought, much of the Active Chakra he extracted resembled Tailed Beasts.

Even Irori, whom he had created, possessed life characteristics approaching those of Chakra creatures like Tailed Beasts.

It was only natural that Kicho, who possessed the Byakugan, could see that.

"A fine idea, but it puts a tremendous burden on your body, doesn't it? And releasing Chakra on such a large scale must consume a great deal of it as well."

Kicho's assessment was precise.

Ordinary ninjas would die if they wore Chakra this dense.

Only a ninja with a body as strong as Yayoi's could control it.

"The burden isn't much of a problem. If I improve my physique a little more, I'll be able to handle this technique perfectly. As for chakra consumption... no, this technique is the most suitable thing for me. My chakra evaporates extremely slowly. Even when released externally, it can remain intact for a long time."

Yayoi said this.

At Yayoi's reminder, Kicho immediately recalled how he had previously released clusters of chakra to control puppets wirelessly.

Generally speaking, once chakra was released externally, it quickly dissipated into the air.

To use Yayoi's Chakra Armor, one needed to continuously release high-density chakra.

That inevitably required an enormous amount of chakra to sustain the expenditure.

For example, the Lightning Release Chakra Mode passed down in the Land of Lightning created lightning-nature chakra and formed it into lightning armor worn over the body.

It required chakra to be continuously released to keep the lightning armor running.

Only those with chakra reserves close to the Tailed Beasts', or at the level of the Tailed Beasts themselves, could use this Lightning Release mode freely.

A ninja from the Land of Lightning named A was one of the strongest practitioners of this path, possessing Tailed Beast-level chakra reserves.

His Lightning Release Chakra Mode was said to be capable of blasting Tailed Beasts away with his fists, or even beating them flat in hand-to-hand combat.

But Yayoi was different. His chakra evaporated very slowly. Once he formed the armor, he could maintain it for a long time without constantly releasing chakra to keep the Chakra Armor functioning.

In other words, as long as the released chakra was not neutralized by an enemy's attacks, it could be preserved for a long time without any additional loss.

So even without Tailed Beast-level chakra, Yayoi could maintain this state for a very long time.

Kicho quickly understood the point.

Just as Yayoi had said, this technique was the move best suited to him.

Compared with the Lightning Release Chakra Mode of the Land of Lightning, it was more akin to a Jinchūriki's Tailed Beast Cloak.

Yet these two forms of Chakra Armor reached the same end by different paths. Both used high-density chakra to turn the user's body into a dangerous weapon capable of both attack and defense.

"Actually, this technique can be developed further. That is, by injecting chakra nature transformation into it to increase the technique's destructive power."

Yayoi answered.

Like the Rasengan, Yayoi's technique was a foundational technique that could continue to be expanded upon.

The high-density chakra enveloping his body differed from the Lightning Release Chakra Mode in that it contained no chakra nature transformation.

If he injected nature transformation into it on that foundation... it would be no different from wearing Wind Release: Rasenshuriken while fighting.

At that point, both the technique's power and difficulty would surpass the Lightning Release Chakra Mode.

But for the time being, Yayoi did not dare attempt nature transformation.

The basic technique was already more powerful than the Rasengan. If he added nature transformation, its power would naturally exceed that of Wind Release: Rasenshuriken.

And Wind Release: Rasenshuriken was already an extremely risky Ninjutsu.

If he wore a Ninjutsu even more powerful than Wind Release: Rasenshuriken on his body, not only would he fail to kill the enemy, he would cripple himself first.

"Uh... that already sounds incredibly dangerous."

The thought of injecting nature transformation into such high-density Chakra Armor made Kicho shudder. A drop of cold sweat slid down her smooth forehead.

Chakra infusion itself was already a highly advanced chakra control technique, something only ninjas of a certain level could accomplish. Adding nature transformation on top of that would increase both the difficulty and risk geometrically.

"I'm afraid I'll have to wait until my body and chakra undergo another qualitative transformation before attempting to inject nature transformation."

After all, Wind Release: Rasenshuriken was held in one's hand, while his technique was worn over his body at all times. Their levels of difficulty and risk were simply not comparable.

"Does this technique have a name now?"

Kicho asked curiously.

Naming one's own original technique was also one of a ninja's pleasures.

Yayoi rubbed his chin and thought for a moment. Then he raised his head to look at the sky, his gaze growing profound.

"This technique... will be called Chakra Armament Mode. One day, this technique will become famous throughout the Ninja World along with my name."

Yayoi gave his original Ninjutsu its official name and looked forward to the day it would become renowned throughout the Ninja World.

Although his reputation had already spread through many surrounding countries, he wanted more than that.

His small goal of becoming famous throughout the Ninja World was to reach the same level as Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha.